"Starting out, I played a lot of Bob Dylan, but what really got me going was John Prine. I was the John Prine jukebox. I met him once and told him 'I'm your biggest fan, I play twenty six of your songs' and he looked at me and said, 'Really, I only play twenty two.' I'll never forget that."

Sometimes music comes to us as a big present - a big packaged affair featuring any number of we known artists - but other times it comes as a small gift, like back porch jams, living room listening parties, and the songs of singer/songwriter Greg Jacobs.

Even though the Oklahoma born Jacobs has graduated from being the John Prine greatest show and from playing for friends in living rooms, his music will forever retain a spiritual kinship to Prine and flow with the same intimacy found in those small off-the-cuff music gatherings. It's fresh, it's honest, it's memorable, and most of all, it comes with no expectations other than to make a connection with the listener.

From tiny Choctaw, Oklahoma, situated just beyond the outskirts of Oklahoma City, the unassuming singer/songwriter soon found his way to the college town of Stillwater, home to a variety of musicians including Jimmy LaFave, Bob Childers, The Skinner Brothers, and a guy named Garth Brooks. It was one of the most fertile music scenes anywhere, and is now talked about as being the birthplace of the "red dirt" sound, a loose description of the style and attitude of everyone from the rocking style of LaFave, the country-Dylan persona of Childers, the alternative country of the Red Dirt Rangers and the easy going songs of Jacobs.

"Back in those days the Skinner Brothers and I were into stuff like Gram Parsons and the Amazing Rhythm Aces. They also worked as Garth's band. LaFave was really on the other side of the fence playing this gutsy soulful rock. Bob Childers was sorta in both camps and brought us all together."

After gigging around Stillwater for a few years, Jacobs wound up in Kentucky, where he would make monthly trips to Nashville to visit some of his old Stillwater friends. Every so often he would find himself jamming and writing songs with his old music buddies. Looking back on those days, Jacobs has mixed emotions, but he remembers one thing he said to a friend like it was yesterday.

"The Skinner Brothers and Garth had this house they were renting in Nashville and I would come down from Kentucky about once a month. We would sit around and jam and think up songs and such. I remember telling Garth to quit trying to be the next George Strait and find something else. Well, I guess he did."

After a few trips to Nashville, Jacobs got the notion to move there with the hopes of being a successful Nashville songwriter feeding the country music business beast. The fact that he abandoned his dream of being the next Harlan Howard says less about the quality of his songs and more about the cookie-cutter mentality in country music. Nashville wanted songs that guys in trucks could hum along and tap their toes to, Jacobs wanted to write something a bit more personal.

"Most music being made in Nashville is not for the serious listener at all. Of course there are some exceptions like Mary Chapin Carpenter who make it without adhering to the same Nashville mentality, but it's damn hard to be that one or two or three who can make it that way. I decided I wanted to be a different kind of songwriter."

With that in mind, Jacobs left behind his country music aspirations and returned to Oklahoma. But he continued to write songs and gradually increased his live performances such as his annual appearance at the Stillwater Musicians Reunion and opening shows for the now hugely popular Jimmy LaFave and fellow Okie songwriter Kevin Welch.

Making music again was becoming more and more important to Jacobs and in 1994 he stepped into the studio and recorded the album Looking at the Moon, followed by 1996's Reclining With Age. Meant strictly for selling at gigs and for giving to friends, both albums reflected the intelligent songwriting he had always been known for. With a near equal mix of country/folk and country/blues, Jacobs songs reflected his wounds of love and lessons of life.

"I like to change tempo a lot. Play a ballad followed by a mid-tempo blues rocker. My songs are a mix of country, folk, blues and even a few jazz licks. Sometimes they are all in the same song. I like to mix it up."

1997 found Jacobs in the recording studio again, this time working on his most ambitious effort to date. Titled South of Muskogee Town, the new album contained fourteen original songs by Greg and his Okie compadres. The results were staggering and the album was quickly snatched up by a small indie label. Jacob's signing with Binky Records also reunited him with fellow "red dirt" buddies Tom Skinner and Bob Childers, both of whom were recording for the label.

While South of Muskogee Town was a study in Oklahoma history, Look At Love (1999) was, as the title indicates, a CD full of beautiful (and sometimes dysfunctional) love songs. In 2002, Greg borrowed a title from earlier in his career and released Reclining With Age to great acclaim.